scholarly journals THE ULTRASTRUCTURE AND DISPOSITION OF VESICULATED NERVE PROCESSES IN SMOOTH MUSCLE

1963 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Thaemert
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Neuromuscular Junctions ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Intercellular Spaces ◽  
Intimate Contact ◽  
Smooth Muscle Tissue ◽  
The Central Nervous System

The walls of the gastrointestinal tract and urinary bladder of rats were fixed in osmium tetroxide, embedded in methacrylate, and sectioned for electron microscopy. The examination of sections of smooth muscle tissue with the electron microscope reveals the presence of bundles of unmyelinated nerve fibers within the intercellular spaces. In addition, vesiculated nerve processes, bounded on their outer surfaces by delicate plasma membranes and typically containing varying quantities of synaptic vesicles and mitochondria, make intimate contact with the surface of smooth muscle cells. These nerve processes are similar in structure and disposition to nerve endings previously described in skeletal muscle, in the central nervous system, in peripheral ganglia, in receptors, and in glands. It is concluded that the relationships existing between vesiculated nerve processes and the surface of smooth muscle cells constitute neuromuscular junctions. Profiles of protrusions of smooth muscle cells are often seen protruding into the intercellular spaces. Here they occur singly or in groups, originating from one or more cells. Because of the plane of section the protrusions may sometimes appear as individual entities between the muscle cells. In such cases care must be exercised in their identification because they have characteristics similar to sectioned nerve processes which also occur in the intercellular spaces.

scholarly journals A CHOLINERGIC COMPONENT IN THE INNERVATION OF THE LONGITUDINAL SMOOTH MUSCLE OF THE GUINEA PIG VAS DEFERENS

1969 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 462-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Guinea Pig ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Vas Deferens ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Muscle Membrane ◽  
Smooth Muscle Tissue ◽  
Longitudinal Smooth Muscle

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) has been detected on the plasma membrane of about 25% of the axons in the longitudinal smooth muscle tissue of guinea pig vas deferens. These axons are presumably cholinergic. No enzyme was detected in the remaining 75% of axons. These axons are presumably adrenergic. The plasma membrane of the Schwann cells associated with the cholinergic axons also stained for AChE. Some axon bundles contained only cholinergic or adrenergic axons while others contained both types of axon. When a cholinergic axon approached within 1100 A of a smooth muscle cell, there was a patch of AChE activity on the muscle membrane adjacent to the axon. It is suggested that these approaches are the points of effective transmission from cholinergic axons to smooth muscle cells. Butyrylcholinesterase activity was detected on the plasma membranes of all axons and smooth muscle cells in this tissue.

scholarly journals ARCHITECTURE AND NERVE SUPPLY OF MAMMALIAN SMOOTH MUSCLE TISSUE

1957 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 867-878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf Caesar ◽  
George A. Edwards ◽  
Helmut Ruska
Keyword(s):  
Endoplasmic Reticulum ◽  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Muscle Cell ◽  
Muscle Tissue ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Autonomic Nerves ◽  
Smooth Muscle Tissue

Smooth muscle tissue from mouse urinary bladder, uterus, and gall bladder has been studied by means of the electron microscope. The smooth muscle cells are distinctly and completely separated from each other by a cytolemma comparable to the sarcolemma of striated muscle. The tissue is thus cellular and not syncytial. With this evidence, supported by electron microscopy of other tissues, we question the existence of true syncytia in animal tissues. Individual cell membranes necessary for the electrophysiologic events exist in smooth muscle, and its nerve and conduction in a tissue such as uterus or bladder can occur at the cellular level as well as at the tissue area level. The smooth muscle cell contains myofilaments, nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, Golgi complex, centrosome, and pinocytotic vesicles. These structures are described in some detail, and their probable interrelations and functions are discussed. The autonomic nerves innervating smooth muscle cells are composed of axons and lemnoblasts. The axon is suspended by the mesaxon formed by the infolded plasma membrane of the lemnoblast. The respective plasma membranes separate axon and lemnoblast from each other and from surrounding muscle cells. The axons of autonomic nerves never penetrate the plasma membrane of the muscle cell, but pass or intrude into muscle cell pockets, forming a contact between axonal plasma membrane and smooth muscle plasma membrane. The lemnoblast shows well developed endoplasmic reticulum with Palade granules, mitochondria, and a long, elliptical nucleus. The axon contains neurofilaments, mitochondria, and synaptic vesicles; the quantity of the latter two being significantly greater in the periphery of lemnoblasts and near axon-muscle contact regions. We regard the contact regions as the synapses between the autonomic nerves and the smooth muscle cells.

The cephalic neural crest provides pericytes and smooth muscle cells to all blood vessels of the face and forebrain

Development ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 128 (7) ◽  
pp. 1059-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.C. Etchevers ◽  
C. Vincent ◽  
N.M. Le Douarin ◽  
G.F. Couly
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Neural Crest ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Embryonic Cell ◽  
Avian Embryo ◽  
Connective Tissues ◽  
The Face ◽  
Mesodermal Origin ◽  
The Central Nervous System

Most connective tissues in the head develop from neural crest cells (NCCs), an embryonic cell population present only in vertebrates. We show that NCC-derived pericytes and smooth muscle cells are distributed in a sharply circumscribed sector of the vasculature of the avian embryo. As NCCs detach from the neural folds that correspond to the future posterior diencephalon, mesencephalon and rhombencephalon, they migrate between the ectoderm and the neuroepithelium into the anterior/ventral head, encountering mesoderm-derived endothelial precursors. Together, these two cell populations build a vascular tree rooted at the departure of the aorta from the heart and ramified into the capillary plexi that irrigate the forebrain meninges, retinal choroids and all facial structures, before returning to the heart. NCCs ensheath each aortic arch-derived vessel, providing every component except the endothelial cells. Within the meninges, capillaries with pericytes of diencephalic and mesencephalic neural fold origin supply the forebrain, while capillaries with pericytes of mesodermal origin supply the rest of the central nervous system, in a mutually exclusive manner. The two types of head vasculature contact at a few defined points, including the anastomotic vessels of the circle of Willis, immediately ventral to the forebrain/midbrain boundary. Over the course of evolution, the vertebrate subphylum may have exploited the exceptionally broad range of developmental potentialities and the plasticity of NCCs in head remodelling that resulted in the growth of the forebrain.

Isolation of plasma membranes of smooth muscle cells of the rabbit small intestine

1984 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. K. Rybal'chenko ◽  
P. V. Pogrebnoi ◽  
T. G. Gruzina ◽  
V. I. Karamushka
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Small Intestine ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Rabbit Small Intestine

cAMP response of vascular smooth muscle cells to bovine parathyroid hormone

1984 ◽  
Vol 247 (6) ◽  
pp. E822-E826 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Stanton ◽  
S. B. Plant ◽  
D. A. McCarron
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Parathyroid Hormone ◽  
Vascular Smooth Muscle ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Smooth Muscle Tissue ◽  
Camp Content

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is a vasodilator of vascular smooth muscle tissue. It has been shown to produce this vasodilation in normotensive and hypertensive laboratory rats. The effect is log dose dependent, maximal at 1 min and persists for 3–5 min. The cellular mechanisms involved in PTH-mediated vasodilation are unknown. In this study, we sought to determine the cellular changes of cAMP after administration of bovine (b)PTH (1–34). cAMP content of vascular smooth muscle cells was measured at 30 s, 1, 3, and 5 min after incubation with synthetic bPTH (1–34). Tissue cAMP content was decreased by 55% at 1 min (4.1 +/- 0.5 pmol/mg protein at time 0 vs. 1.9 +/- 0.2 pmol/mg protein at 1 min, P less than 0.001). After 5 min, cAMP levels returned to base-line values and increased over the next 5–10 min to levels above base line (P less than 0.01). In conclusion, our data suggest that the initial response of vascular smooth muscle cells to short-term incubation with bPTH (1–34) is an acute decrease in cAMP content.

Muscarinic receptor size on smooth muscle cells and membranes

1986 ◽  
Vol 251 (2) ◽  
pp. G195-G200
Author(s):  
S. M. Collins ◽  
C. Y. Jung ◽  
A. K. Grover
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Muscarinic Receptor ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Membrane Preparation ◽  
Galactose Oxidase ◽  
Radiation Inactivation ◽  
Gastric Smooth Muscle

The loss of [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate ([3H]QNB) binding following high-energy radiation was used to compare the muscarinic receptor size on single smooth muscle cells isolated by collagenase digestion from the canine stomach and on plasma membranes derived from intact gastric smooth muscle without exposure to exogenous proteolysis. Radiation inactivation of galactose oxidase (68 kdaltons), yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (160 kdaltons), and pyruvate kinase (224 kdaltons) activities were used as molecular-weight standards. Radiation inactivation of [3H]QNB binding to rat brain membranes, which gave a target size of 86 kdaltons, served as an additional control. In isolated smooth muscle cells, the calculated size of the muscarinic receptor was 80 +/- 8 kdaltons. In contrast, in a smooth muscle enriched plasma membrane preparation, muscarinic receptor size was significantly smaller at 45 +/- 3 kdaltons. Larger molecular sizes were obtained either in the presence of protease inhibitors (62 +/- 4 kdaltons) or by using a crude membrane preparation of gastric smooth muscle 86 +/- 7 kdaltons).

scholarly journals Successful implantation of physiologically functional bioengineered mouse internal anal sphincter

2010 ◽  
Vol 299 (2) ◽  
pp. G430-G439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shreya Raghavan ◽  
Eiichi A. Miyasaka ◽  
Mohamed Hashish ◽  
Sita Somara ◽  
Robert R. Gilmont ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Anal Sphincter ◽  
Intracellular Signaling ◽  
Internal Anal Sphincter ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Nitric Oxide Donor ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Smooth Muscle Tissue ◽  
Basal Tone

We have previously developed bioengineered three-dimensional internal anal sphincter (IAS) rings from circular smooth muscle cells isolated from rabbit and human IAS. We provide proof of concept that bioengineered mouse IAS rings are neovascularized upon implantation into mice of the same strain and maintain concentric smooth muscle alignment, phenotype, and IAS functionality. Rings were bioengineered by using smooth muscle cells from the IAS of C57BL/6J mice. Bioengineered mouse IAS rings were implanted subcutaneously on the dorsum of C57BL/6J mice along with a microosmotic pump delivering fibroblast growth factor-2. The mice remained healthy during the period of implantation, showing no external signs of rejection. Mice were killed 28 days postsurgery and implanted IAS rings were harvested. IAS rings showed muscle attachment, neovascularization, healthy color, and no external signs of infection or inflammation. Assessment of force generation on harvested IAS rings showed the following: 1) spontaneous basal tone was generated in the absence of external stimulation; 2) basal tone was relaxed by vasoactive intestinal peptide, nitric oxide donor, and nifedipine; 3) acetylcholine and phorbol dibutyrate elicited rapid-rising, dose-dependent, sustained contractions repeatedly over 30 min without signs of muscle fatigue; and 4) magnitudes of potassium chloride-induced contractions were 100% of peak maximal agonist-induced contractions. Our preliminary results confirm the proof of concept that bioengineered rings are neovascularized upon implantation. Harvested rings maintain smooth muscle alignment and phenotype. Our physiological studies confirm that implanted rings maintain 1) overall IAS physiology and develop basal tone, 2) integrity of membrane ionic characteristics, and 3) integrity of membrane associated intracellular signaling transduction pathways for contraction and relaxation by responding to cholinergic, nitrergic, and VIP-ergic stimulation. IAS smooth muscle tissue could thus be bioengineered for the purpose of implantation to serve as a potential graft therapy for dysfunctional internal anal sphincter in fecal incontinence.

scholarly journals Modulatory role of nitric oxide in cardiac performance

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 345-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Smiljic ◽  
Vojkan Nestorovic ◽  
Sladjana Savic
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Free Radical ◽  
Nitric Oxide Synthase ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Cardiac Insufficiency ◽  
Cellular Respiration ◽  
Oxide Synthase

Nitric oxide is produced by almost all cardiac cells, endothelial cells, cardiomyocytes and nerve fibers. It is synthesized by an enzyme, a nitric oxide synthase, which occurs in endothelial, neural and inducible form. The distribution of nitric oxide synthase in the heart is characterized by a pronounced non-uniformity. Nitric oxide exerts its effects in physiological and pathophysiological conditions. The physiological effects of low concentrations of nitric oxide, which is released in the normal conditions under the influence of constituent enzymes, occur via cyclic guanosine monophosphate. The synthesized nitric oxide exhibits its effect in the cells where it is produced, in an autocrine manner, or by diffusing into the neighboring cells, in a paracrine manner. Nitric oxide acts by regulating the coronary vessel tonus, affecting the contractility of cardiomyocytes, generating an inotropic effect in a dose-dependent manner and controlling the cellular respiration. Other effects of nitric oxide in the cardiovascular system include the hyperpolarization of the smooth muscle cells in blood vessels, the inhibition of the monocyte adhesion, the inhibition of platelet migration, adhesion and aggregation and the proliferation of smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts. The anti-atherosclerotic effects of nitric oxide are based on these effects. Nitric oxide is a weak free radical in gaseous state, and the cytotoxic and/or the cytoprotective effects of the higher concentrations of nitric oxide are related to the chemical structure of nitric oxide as a free radical. The excessive production of nitric oxide by the activation of inducible nitric oxide synthase can lead to major irregularities in the function of cardiomyocytes and cardiac insufficiency. Understanding the nitric oxide molecular mechanisms of signaling pathways in the heart can provide a new strategic approach to prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

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